CG reservations required? ALCAN / Alaska

We have done a few trips up north ( next one starts 2nd week of July) as wife is from Stewart BC so we go up and visit friends, and then we wander....around...
The only places we ever made reservations was at Liard Hot Springs, as wanted to take a few days off and rest in the Hot Springs.
in Whitehorse at High Country RV Park, cause we love that place.
And in Dawson City we stay at the Gold Rush campground as we love staying downtown because close to everything and we can walk around to everything. There are two campgrounds in downtown but we like this place.... as my kids used to say... cause... lol...

Also take note:
- May long weekend:
in most provinces in Canada is Victoria Day weekend is the third Monday in May, and the un- official start of the Canadian camping season.
- Canada day - July 1st.
August 1st - in BC day, and other provinces call it other things. It falls on a Wednesday this year and the stat holiday will be the first Monday of August. ( August 6th)
- Labour day weekend - is the same both sides of the 49th
Those weekends campgrounds in BC are usually full in the southern part of BC anyways.( south of Prince George )
Northern BC your most likely fine except popular campgrounds like Liard Hot Springs.

This trip for us.... no reservations except for the ferry to and from Haida Gwaii.

Have fun and just go for it unless you want to stay someplace and you want to be assured there is a spot for you.
Soup.
PS: always fill the top half of your fuel tank.

The fuel station on the main intersection at Tok has dump point, propane and water and if you buy fuel you can boondock out back.

Our bears were all off road bears, I guess. The mom and cub were roadside and we pulled over opposite side just a few yards from them. They continued doing their thing for a minute or two, and then mama got tired of the nosey touristas, and chose exit stage left, cub in tow.

Our other close encounters with potentially damaging critters were bison in Muncho Lake PP and elsewhere strolling across the highway. We saw, we slowed down, and then just sat and waited. Most other wildlife were far enough off the roadway that we could have stopped in time, if necessary. Blind hills and corners and heavy brush and trees encroaching on the roadways were cause for concern. We just slowed down for blind corners/hills, and were constantly watching the edges of the brush or woods along the route for any movement.

All wildlife is unpredictable, and that's about the best advice you can give/get. We had more trouble with rocks on the windshield from uncaring truckers that drove like they were late for something.:R

A little advice about bears, when you see one down on all 4, feeding, they will most times stay where they are and pay you no attention, when you see one standing up on 2 legs, they are getting ready to run in any direction they please.

black bear is about 100 yd. up on the left shoulder of the highway, he is standing, as we approach to about 20 yards it decides to run across the highway,, BANG, he makes a mess of the fiberglass lower right corner of our front cap.

Didn't kill the bear, it ran off.

As stated reservations probably only required in Alaska around July 4th holiday time and our July 1st weekend or the week of the Calgary Stampede in the Calgary, Banff Jasper area. once north of Jasper reservations probably not a requirement.
There are many beautiful provincial parks in the Yukon, unfortunately most of them have few services. Cottonwoods campground on Kluane Lake in the Yukon has servives and is a nice campground with beautiful scenery. Eagle River in Palmer Alaska is excellent.
Rough camping on the Homer Spit is awesome. The full service RV park on the spit was very pricing when we were last there.
The City municipall park in Seward is great right on the water. A few choices in Valdez, Skagway, etc.
If you come home on the Stewart Cassair, Boya Lake, Kinaskin Lake and Meziadin Lake are probably 3 of BC’s most beautiful prov. Parks. From Meziadin you can day trip to Hyder and Stewart. Some of the most beautiful glaciers along that route.
Enjoy your trip it will be a fantastic experience.

enblethen wrote:
The Canadian National Parks and the Provincial parks are great!
I wish our state parks were kept as nice as the provincial parks.
The provincial parks do not have refuse thrown all over.
Our "Good" neighbors to the north are far more friendly then many from the US!

If only we could get our fuel prices lower. Then everybody could have a happy. ;)

The Canadian National Parks and the Provincial parks are great!
I wish our state parks were kept as nice as the provincial parks.
The provincial parks do not have refuse thrown all over.
Our "Good" neighbors to the north are far more friendly then many from the US!

enblethen wrote:
Yes, a little campground a few miles south of Tok. It is just before bridge. Be careful of the moose! Nice female was there when we were.

We used numerous roadside "facilities" and used commercial for filling up with water, dumping holding tanks, laundry and internet.

Some folks from Alaska have said to me that you can pretty much pull over and park it for the night anywhere. Just use some common sense, and preferably leave no trace. We used a place in Fairbanks called Pioneer Park for a night while getting our bearings, but it was more of a municipal parking lot. Think it was $12/night for a place to park with a camp host. We were tired after a long day and it worked for us.

There's a little campground in Beaver Creek YT, Beaver Creek RV & Mo tel, that wasn't too bad either. Since we were running out of daylight, we stopped there. We took a tent site but used the showers which were fine. It's so quiet up there.
We saw 3 moose on the Canadian side of the border in Beaver Creek, just past the CBSA customs on our exit from the 49th state. It was dusk and we saw a cow with 2 calves, just grazing along the side of the road.
Also saw one as we were leaving Muncho Lake PP, and one up at the Summit Lake CG in Stone Mountain PP. Black bears were around here and there along Hwy 97, both ways. On the return leg, we stopped to watch a mama and cub forage along the roadside, before she decided they should head into the bush.

Just a note, not a suggestion, but the Pioneer camp ground in White Horse has 160 spots, the camp ground in Tok is larger than that.
My suggestion is simple, GO have fun, but take your time

Yes, a little campground a few miles south of Tok. It is just before bridge. Be careful of the moose! Nice female was there when we were.

We used numerous roadside "facilities" and used commercial for filling up with water, dumping holding tanks, laundry and internet.